Course Ratiings and Course conditions

bazinky · August 17, 2010

Does condition affect the rating/slope?

I'm curious as to whether course conditions are taken into account for course and slope ratings. I played at a friend's club for the first time this weekend, and was struck by how much more difficult the course was in comparison to it's rating. The course layout itself was not pretty easy (thus the relatively low rating/slope), but the course had U.S. Open style rough. You couldn't do much more than wedge your ball back to the fairway, which he told me they keep up pretty much all year.

My buddy's handicap has skyrocketed since joining this course, even though his game is about the same when we play. It seems like the course conditions would serve to artificially inflate handicaps, and I would defintely not want to play a member of this course at a neutral site if I was giving strokes. I also wonder how prevalent this kind of practice is, as maybe this is why so many high handicaps shoot "career" handicaps in member guests ...

teejaywhy · August 18, 2010

[quote name='bazinky' timestamp='1282069514' post='2645164']
I'm curious as to whether course conditions are taken into account for course and slope ratings. I played at a friend's club for the first time this weekend, and was struck by how much more difficult the course was in comparison to it's rating. The course layout itself was not pretty easy (thus the relatively low rating/slope), but the course had U.S. Open style rough. You couldn't do much more than wedge your ball back to the fairway, which he told me they keep up pretty much all year.

My buddy's handicap has skyrocketed since joining this course, even though his game is about the same when we play. It seems like the course conditions would serve to artificially inflate handicaps, and I would defintely not want to play a member of this course at a neutral site if I was giving strokes. I also wonder how prevalent this kind of practice is, as maybe this is why so many high handicaps shoot "career" handicaps in member guests ...
[/quote]

It is supposed to be considered per the general rating guidelines given on the USGA website:

[url]http://www.usga.org/handicapping/course_ratings/ratings_primer/Course-Rating-Primer/[/url]

[i]"Recoverability and Rough:[/i] Recoverability and Rough is the evaluation of the probability of missing the tee shot landing zone and the green, and the difficulty of recovering if either, or both, is missed. The Green Target rating drives the Recoverability and Rough rating value. "

[i]"Out of Bounds/ExtremeRough:[/i] OB/Extreme Rough is the evaluation of the distance from the center of the landing zone to the OB/Extreme Rough. High grass, heavy underbrush in trees, and other extreme conditions are rated in this category because a ball in such "extreme rough" is likely to be lost or virtually unplayable. Such areas may also be rated under Recoverability and Rough. "